Musings of a textile itinerant

 Creative Thinking

I have been doing a bit of writing and making and thinking especially around an exhibition I had recently at ARC Yinnar Gallery with Marita Anderson and Cheryl Cook entitled "Riding the Brush" ( Marita) and Bush Palette Scribbling. I should have posted about it here but the month seemed to race by and the exhibition finished last Sunday. I did manage to self publish a booklet entitled Bush Scribbling which can be purchased for $20 inclusive of postage in Australia only. It really was some thought meanders around daily walking and how that inspires some of my creations for the exhibition, but it is also  about noticing and really looking and wonderment I guess. I really have missed walking the last 10 days or so as the nerve in my leg has decided to spasm after sitting in city traffic for too long - the pain takes a little while to subside and though I can walk easily it does flare up the pain if I walk too much. I also managed to finish the big Bush Scribbling book, which was all manner of natural vegetation printed onto mulberry paper and then hand coloured.

I am now in full making mode for the project I will teach for  the Stitch Club for Textile Arts Org  and I will be intensely concentrating on that for the next month at least. It will air in January 2025, but workbook, inspiration book and videos have to be made  as well as the work itself. I decided to combine linocutting with stitch as that is what I do a lot of and have made a small project that can be done in the two week time span. However for myself I am creating another traveller's blanket inspired by the travel in Perugia last year.  The large blankets take me over a year to stitch but I wanted to start one as an example of where you can take linocut and stitch if you were inclined for a longer project.

I Usually attach  each square as I work but decided to place each linocut square on the hand dyed linen to see how it would look and then decided to attach them into place ready for stitching. I made nine little square linocuts inspired by Perugia and surrounds, things like  woven textiles, the dozens of madonnas encountered , creatures, olive trees and pomegranates.

It was all inspired by the photos I took and drawings I made at the time- and  looking at them altogether it has  quite an late medieval/early renaissance feel. The stitching I will be doing will be quite simple but quite dense, nothing like going overboard with the stitching. Background stitching still needs to be added to  this little pigeon, which is I think my favourite of the linocuts I made.

Anyway the next month is going to be all about stitching and more stitching and making videos and writing notes. In August I am involved in another exhibition at ARC Yinnar- I will try and share information about that before the exhibition and then from Mid September Gathered Threads will once again be shown until mid October showcasing some of Australia's top textile artists.